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Mardi Gras ship docks along the Mobile River, crew members depart

Mardi Gras ship.jpg

The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, docked along the Mobile River Thursday.Every year a Navy vessel, unofficially known as the “Mardi Gras ship” pulls into Mobile during Carnival season. (Michael Finch II | mfinch@al.com)

MOBILE, Alabama -- The USS Gravely, this year’s Mardi Gras ship, docked along the Mobile River early Friday before crew members were allowed to leave the ship and head for the streets of Mobile.

People lined the the dock, flanked with a marching band and several Azalea trail maids, as the ship careened closer to the Port of Mobile. The service members were welcomed with remarks from Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and officials from the Mobile Council of the Navy League of the United State, among others.

“This will be the most fun you will have while your are on active duty, I can assure you,” Stimpson said. “It’s only because of what you do in your service to this country that we are allowed to do what we do everyday.”

Stimpson also issued a proclamation to the ship’s Captain Kevin M. Kennedy, as well as a key to the city. The formal pronouncement ordered all “ships work cease” and “serious matters not be discussed” during their celebration of Mardi Gras.

After a nine-month deployment in the eastern Mediterranean, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer will be moored until Wednesday.

“I’ve always been told that if you had the opportunity to pull in Mobile you have to take advantage of it because it is truly a Navy town,” Kennedy said. “The welcome that we have received so far today just does not do it justice.”

This is the 115th time a Navy vessel’s crew has come to the Port City to partake in the revelry of Carnival season. For Petty Officer, Second Class, Emily Baird, descending from the ship for the celebration held a special meaning.

When she was younger her family who lived in Mobile would often send boxes of beads, Moon Pies, and coins every year. She never experienced it for herself.

Her mother, Cathy and father, Bob, drove down from Newark, Del. to be with her. .

“I’m really looking forward to getting to see first-hand what Mardi Gras is all about,” said Baird, 33. “Everybody is really looking forward to it.”